unless Scotland call up hdc and Thompson , not sure what samoa are doing these days but if they play ai games fonotina will be with them

Plus we will be missing beirne who was available all last season during the international period.

So in the ai we could see just the two saffer lads added to our squad and in the 6 nations the two saffer lads plus fonotina

I'll leave that to others to decide if that makes us far stronger than last year

Doubt that Hidalgo-Clyne will be called up in his first season here, and Blade will also find it tough to be a starter for Scotland straight away with Denton, Wilson available at 8 and lots of good second rows.

Don't forget we have players who will be another year down the line in terms of development- Elias, Taylor Davies, Steff Hughes, Josh MacLeod, Will Boyde, Dan Jones, Ioan Nicholas etc.

Phil Price is ahead of Dylan (upgrade) and we may see Fawcett come through.

Blommetjies is now our International time full back (upgrade).

Angus O'Brien is now our second choice 10 during internationals (upgrade).

unless Scotland call up hdc and Thompson , not sure what samoa are doing these days but if they play ai games fonotina will be with them

Plus we will be missing beirne who was available all last season during the international period.

So in the ai we could see just the two saffer lads added to our squad and in the 6 nations the two saffer lads plus fonotina

I'll leave that to others to decide if that makes us far stronger than last year

Doubt that Hidalgo-Clyne will be called up in his first season here, and Blade will also find it tough to be a starter for Scotland straight away with Denton, Wilson available at 8 and lots of good second rows.

Don't forget we have players who will be another year down the line in terms of development- Elias, Taylor Davies, Steff Hughes, Josh MacLeod, Will Boyde, Dan Jones, Ioan Nicholas etc.

Phil Price is ahead of Dylan (upgrade) and we may see Fawcett come through.

Blommetjies is now our International time full back (upgrade).

Angus O'Brien is now our second choice 10 during internationals (upgrade).

Development of youngsters. Would be nice to have at least 1 by next season who is first 15.

Increased average gate.

Reduced losses

A word on the Dragons. They will be stronger. I just hope for their sakes and the sake of welsh rugby they stop embarrassing themselves week in, week out and take a few scalps which will help us on our road to glory!

i appreciate that this is not meant to be a Dragons thread but it seems to have developed into that. I am not comfortable with the continuing attacks on the Dragons. There can be no doubt that they have a vastly improved squad for next season. Moriarty & Rhodri are seriously good signings. They will have Amos, Morgan, Rhodri, Dee, Brown, Hill, Moriarty & Griffiths pushing very hard for a place in the World Cup squad next year. Surely posters can see that as progress.

But they had those this year - apart from RM!

These are players that will miss a large chunks of the season though. So again, I see them complaining about depth again next year. As for Brown, its not certain he will be back playing yet is it?

Everyone can see that they have some promising youngsters. They always have had promising youngsters. Its just that for whatever reason they have never realised their full potential there. Even Faletau left as he was not as good as what was hoped, got extremely stale there. He went to Bath and reached another level.

I don't think these lads can be as good as they can under the current set up. Zero man management skills.

I think the issue everyone has with the Dragons is the way that Scarlets were watched getting rid of all high earners, not signing anyone, and going with kids because of our debt....Ospreys now in major cash troubles - having similar stories to us back then that they are now "struggling to continue as a business", Cardiff Blues have also had their issues...Dragons have had their debts wiped clean, given the go ahead to sign players that wouldn't be cheap (Morroarity, Hibbard etc), and continuous Andy Howell and Robin Davey stupid news days and over the top positive press. Even Scrum V spoke more about Gwent area than Cardiff Blues winning the European trophy! Scrum V also allocated goodness knows how many positive chats about them after their embarrassing losses through the season "its all about next year". The only thing that's happened is that Jackman has managed to get himself unsackable this year after getting people to believe that...even though he is the worst Dragons coach in their entire history results wise.

The squad that they will have next year (apart from RM, JW and RW) were embarrassed out in South Africa and Martyn Williams and Jiffy thankfully called it on them that that was the side that they thought was "their strongest side" - everyone else was being released. They went on to say the players that they signed with respect are players that wouldn't get into other regions.

Have they got an improved squad? hard to say as a squad needs depth. They've got rid of players that would give them decent depth! For example, I cant believe for one second they think Jacob Botica and Josh Lewis are better options at 10 than Angus OBrien - who is both younger and far more experienced than Botica and Lewis!

So with injuries and call ups, I can see them having no real progress personally. They are targeting 6 wins...we will see.

Firstly pe sa I can only agree with you on how poor the Dragons/Jackman have been this season. My gripe is the way some on here don't see any signs of progress in their recruitment. Rhodri & Moriarty are players who we would have welcomed into our squad so they must be good signings. Tyler Morgan & Ollie Griffiths, both quality players missed most of the season through injury. So first up you have 4 top players to boost the team. Add in the 2nd row recently signed and they are starting to look competitive. Don't get me wrong they are going to need to improve the squad over the next couple of seasons to get anywhere near Heineken qualification but they have to start somewhere.

A very large weakness they need to address is at 10. Henson is not the answer now and their signings so far have been pretty underwhelming.

As I said nowhere near Heineken level but with another 4-5 top level players next season with good retention they will start to climb the table which is all their long suffering supporters can hope for.

Rhodri is a decent coup for them. Would we have welcomed him? probably - but would he have been further up the pecking order with us than when he left? I don't think so - and SHC is a huge upgrade. More experienced and international. But if Rhodri plays good rugby, he is more than likely going to be missing with Wales playing traveling reserve - similar to when he left us. So he may not be with them during the time they need a boost. they haven't got the squad to cope with more 3 or 4 international call ups at all. And that's before injuries. Tyler Morgan can be a dangerous attacker - but non existent in defence - likewise Jordan. Lewis is not the answer at 10, as much as I liked him when he was with us, he is 26 and next to no experience top flight experience. Morriarity, his injuries a well documented. a reason he is at the Dragons...the only side in for him willing to give him a shot I suppose. when 4 top surgeons refuse to operate...writing on the wall there. Risky signing, but I guess for the dragons, a risk worth taking. Hibbard again, has openly said that he has gone there as they offered him a 3 year deal! He is 34! Their recruitment in some ways has been better than the past, but to get these guys in they have let players they needed to keep go. Brown is still trying to recover from his head injury suffered earlier in the year and that sounds pretty serious. will he be back? Griffiths is quality for them, Dixon another is good in midfield but both are extremely unlucky with injuries - hope they have a run.

challenging for silver wear in 3 years was his mission - but the second year, 6 wins! Asking a lot in the 3rd year!

They do have hot prospects, but the best thing for them is to get a coach who can actually bring them through.

agree but they also need to keep players that will push the players.

but with Cardiff Blues already circulating around Hewitt, I cant really see all their promising youngsters turning down the chance to actually qualify for Europe as I personally can not see it happening any time soon. I also don't think they will be ahead of the Ospreys who are at their worst since the beginning of Regional rugby - they are even far behind them.

Jackman spouting off silver wear in 3 years just undermines the years of development that other sides have done. It took us near 10 years to get where we are today. As well as Scarlets we had Leinster, Munster, Glasgow, Connacht, Ulster, these are Champions that developed their own and took a while for them to get there and build the depth. Rome was not built in a day...something Jackman needs to learn. I cant see any real progress for them next year though as the teams around them have also got stronger and better. What will Jackman spout next year? "We made a load of signings so we need time to gel...its all about next season"!!!

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